Anthony Reed is a history-making marathon runner and international award-winning sports documentary writer and director focused on African American distance runners. He was inducted into two National Distance Running Halls of Fame (2017, 2022) and in 2024 was named one of eight recipients of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition Hero Award for his athletic achievements and national community impact.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Reed graduated from John Burroughs School and later earned degrees in mathematics and management from Webster University (1978), an MBA from Abilene University of Dallas (1982), and a Master of Science in accounting from the University of Texas at Dallas (1992). Though his universities did not offer athletic programs at the time, he continued training and competing in distance running and cycling.

Reed became one of only sixty people worldwide to complete the 26.2-mile marathon hat trick: running a marathon on all seven continents (including Antarctica), completing 100+ marathons (he has finished 132), and running a marathon in all fifty states. In 2007, at age 51, he became the first Black runner in the world to complete marathons on all seven continents. Artifacts from his final continent, Kenya, are housed at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Between 1983 and 2024, he earned more than twenty-five age group and division awards in U.S. and African marathons, along with honors in biathlons and long-distance cycling events.

In 2004, Reed co-founded the National Black Marathoners Association and served as executive director through 2025, helping grow it into the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit organization of African American distance runners. He has also served on boards including Running USA, the Dallas White Rock Marathon, and the 26.2 Foundation.

Reed wrote and directed two award winning feature documentaries: Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African Women Marathoners (2022) and We ARE Distance Runners: Untold Stories of African American Athletes (2024), earning more than thirty international film festival awards.

TBSHOF Induction Video

Anthony becomes the 130th starter of the world's most prestigious foot race, the Boston Marathon. 

Anthony's acceptance speech at the 2024 Orlando Urban Film Festival.